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The Passion of Ayn Rand

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I have seen the movie, which is based on Barbera Branden's book. I have not read her book.

The movie is ridiculous. Parts of it seem more like porn than like anything else. The rest portrays Ayn Rand as a psychopath. I can' t back up these claims with evidence, really; I only saw the movie once and it was a while ago.

I recommend the biography Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life if you're interested in learning about Ayn Rand's life. It was nominated for an Academy Award some years back.

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I read the book a while ago, when I was still totally confused about what exactly happened with the branden incident. I have to say the early parts of the book contain tons of information about Rand's childhood and early years in America, all of which presents her very favorably. The objectionable section comes when the focus shifts to Rand's affair with Nathaniel Branden. This particular part of the book does make Rand sound more than a little off her rocker, and is in poor taste. It's like reading Jerry Springer if the guests used terms like "metaphysical" and "epistemology." Needless to say, I can understand why you have such an aversion to barbara branden's work, especially since I believe the movie was based only on the affair section. But the early chapters of her book still have information about Rand I've never been able to find anywhere else.

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The movie was awful as a depiction of Rand. Unfortunately, as a movie, it was quite well done: the casting was excellent and the acting was often very impressive.

There's an old bio of Rand written by the Brandens when they were still associated with her, "Who is Ayn Rand?" You can still often find used copies of it for sale online at a reasonable price. As I recall, most of the biographical info in the newer book is in that one as well. Since it was put out under Rand's auspices, it's more factually reliable.

Jeff Britting is coming out with a new biography of Rand soon, though from the description it sounds more like a scrapbook. (Maybe not, though. Hard to say.) You can preorder it on the Ayn Rand Bookstore website: http://www.aynrandbookstore2.com/store/pro...aitem=2&mitem=2

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